Investigating genetic determinants that play a role in conferring susceptibility/resistance
to the development of acute B cell leukemia (B-ALL) in children is highly desirable. We
hypothesized that activating Killer-cell Immunoglobulin-like Receptor (KIR) genes,
which are implicated in NK cell activation, may represent one of these determinants. To
test this hypothesis, we conducted a case-control study in French-Canadian children in
which we used genomic DNA from 100 B-ALL patients and 245 healthy controls. The
presence or absence of each KIR gene was detected by PCR using sequence-specific
primers. We found that the frequencies of these genes are significantly reduced in B-ALL
cases when compared with their healthy counterparts. Furthermore, we found that these
genes had an additive effect in reducing risk for developing the cancer. The results may
be useful in early identification of children at risk for developing this cancer. Moreover,
KIR-based therapies may prove to be useful in treating this cancer.